My experiences with Ed Tech for younger learners and those with special needs shared with you

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Two Apps Among Many

In the Apple App Store, over 25 billion apps have been downloaded, and the number increases daily. There are many apps in the education market – so many that it has become an overwhelming amount. Prices range from free to over $100 an app. Unlike products bought in a store, apps do not have a return policy. Parents must spend time sorting through apps that will suit their children’s needs from ones that will not. Below I listed and described various apps that I found to be helpful to my son in different ways.

Learning basic multiplication facts is just one of those things that we all have to do in elementary school – no ifs, ands, or buts about it. For some children this is an easy task while it is more difficult for others. My son in particular has a great memory, yet he thoroughly enjoys using this app as he finds it highly entertaining. Multiplying Acorns HD – Tasty Math Facts, developed by Operatio Apps, is a fun, hands-on learning, math experience. The superb HD graphics create an engrossing, manipulative-based environment for a thorough conceptual understanding of the times tables. The game is set up with a token economy system and rewards the user throughout the game as he or she earns coins and acorns for solving problems correctly. The settings are user friendly and can be adjusted the specific needs of the user. I myself have played the game many times and have found it to be addictive. You might want to check this out as it is definitely worth the money.

There are those days where our children are bored and want to watch a video – yet they want to watch something different that is not part of their current selection. Although YouTube features many videos, parents may find navigating YouTube a chore as they try to find videos that are appropriate for their child. It was for this reason that Gube: Kid Safe Videos was developed. Gube provides parents with a catalog of pre-screened, moderated, and safe yet fun YouTube videos. Gube was designed and developed by parents of toddlers for parents with infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and gradeschoolers. Thousands of videos are categorized by age group and are completely searchable. You can safely allow your child to easily browse on their own through age-appropriate videos while having the peace of mind knowing they are protected from unsuitable content. Parents are able to save their children’s favorite videos to a list in order to enable easy playback at a later time. When the videos are played, there are no advertisements on the page. You might want to check out Gube as videos are being added on a regular basis. Parents can submit video recommendations to be included in Gube as well.

These are just two apps that I found to be highly beneficial for my son. I would suggest that you look into these apps as they could help your children too. I would be happy to receive your feedback about these apps in particular.